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Orson Welles, South of the Border

By: Eileen Jones

After his post–Citizen Kane slump, Orson Welles teamed up with Universal for a big Hollywood comeback about corrupt police on the US-Mexico border. The executives balked at his vision — but today Touch of Evil is regarded as Welles’s final masterpiece.

(Universal Studios / Newsmakers)

Perhaps the greatest film ever made about America’s southern border is the last film Orson Welles did with a big Hollywood studio behind him. Welles didn’t intend 1958’s Touch of Evil to be his final American production. He believed it was going to be the beginning of a long-lasting partnership with Universal Studios after executives […]

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Perhaps the greatest film ever made about America’s southern border is the last film Orson Welles did with a big Hollywood studio behind him. Welles didn’t intend 1958’s Touch of Evil to be his final American production. He believed it was going to be the beginning of a long-lasting partnership with Universal Studios after executives […]

Medium

Perhaps the greatest film ever made about America’s southern border is the last film Orson Welles did with a big Hollywood studio behind him. Welles didn’t intend 1958’s Touch of Evil to be his final American production. He believed it was going to be the beginning of a long-lasting partnership with Universal Studios after executives […]

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Perhaps the greatest film ever made about America’s southern border is the last film Orson Welles did with a big Hollywood studio behind him. Welles didn’t intend 1958’s Touch of Evil to be his final American production. He believed it was going to be the beginning of a long-lasting partnership with Universal Studios after executives […]